Toronto woman’s Christmas charcuterie tree is the toast of the internet

‘Tis the season for holiday gatherings, whether they be elegant soirees, office potlucks or huge dinners with extended family and friends.

For some people, the greatest joy of the season is one-upping peers and loved ones with impressive outfits, impressive dates, impressive stories and, most importantly, the impressive things they spin up in the kitchen.

It pleases me to announce that your cousins will have nothing on you this year in the appetizers department… unless they also follow Toronto-based DIY queen Lauryn Emily on TikTok. And they might. A lot of people do.

The full-time content creator and mom was recently featured by Newsweek in the U.S. for her innovative “Charcutertree” — a charcuterie board, basically, in the shape of a three-dimensional Christmas tree.

While smaller than your typical Balsam Fir, the TikToker’s 16-inch-tall meat tree really does resemble the real thing, complete with a marble cheese “star” on top and sprigs of herbs that mimic pine needles seeded throughout.

Charcuterie board x Christmas tree = Charcuter-tree!

📹: Lauryn Emily https://t.co/EDlmBvBONh pic.twitter.com/v9oq4X1wie

— blogTO (@blogTO) December 14, 2022

“I saw the foam tree on Amazon and thought ‘what a great idea for a charcute-tree’,” Lauryn told blogTO this week. “Who doesn’t love a charcuterie board?”

Using salami, prosciutto, bocconcini, olives, baby tomatoes, turkey, marble cheese, toothpicks and a simple styrofoam cone that can be found at any craft store, she created the edible work of art.

In the end, the delicious-looking decoration (or decorationy-looking deliciousness?) wound up taking Lauryn about 45 minutes.

Her video documenting the process, posted to TikTok on Nov. 12, has since been viewed more than 20 million times, inspiring the creator to make other festive food trees, including a fruit tree and a veggie tree. 

Toronto creator Lauryn Emily is making impressive edible Christmas trees that you can easily DIY at home.

📹: Lauryn Emily https://t.co/rHs6m4kidU pic.twitter.com/rSvHVmUVEF

— blogTO (@blogTO) December 14, 2022

Lauryn says that she’s thrilled by how well-received her charcuterie tree and other creative home decor hacks have been.

“I started posting aesthetically pleasing decor ideas, easy recipes, crafts and Amazon ‘must haves’ about a year ago on TikTok and had no idea where it could go,” she told blogTO.

“I am super thankful for the support I’ve been receiving from my audience!”

Despite demand from her followers, Lauryn confirmed that she does not sell the charcutertrees she makes, as she doesn’t have the time or infrastucture to mass-produce and ship them.

Fortunately, she has a whole host of videos containing instructions not only for the party trees, but for all kinds of holiday food and decor; Pretzel wreaths, donut snowmen, grinch grapes, candy cane cocoa, charcuter-wreaths…

I, for one, intend on blowing some minds this Christmas with banana Santas, because who wouldn’t want to eat (or say) banana Santas?